Melbourne Airport Strong Growth In First Quarter Passenger Numbers

Strong growth in international passenger numbers has driven a positive first quarter performance by Melbourne Airport, achieving 40 consecutive quarters of growth.

The first quarter saw Melbourne Airport welcome 2.45 million international passengers which was a nine per cent increase on the same time as last year, and 6.35 million domestic passengers which was a three per cent increase on the first quarter in 2015/16.

This yielded a total passenger increase of four per cent to 8.8 million passengers for the first quarter of 2016/17.

The month of September saw an increase of 8.5 per cent in international passengers to 800,629 and an increase of 5.3 per cent in domestic passengers to 2,136,818 from the same time last year.

Total passenger numbers in September increased to 2,937,447, a 6.2 per cent increase on September 2015.

Significant regions which supported the international growth of 8.5 per cent for the month included Taiwan (+132.6%), Singapore (+48.1%), India (+23.8%), Malaysia (+18.5%), China (+10.6%), the US (+5.0%) and NZ (+3.0%).

In late September, Beijing Capital Airlines commenced direct services to Melbourne three times a week, from the Chinese city of Shenyang, transiting via Qingdao.

Melbourne Airport anticipates that China will continue to be source of international passenger growth.

Quotes attributable to Mr Lyell Strambi, CEO Melbourne Airport
“Our first quarter passenger numbers highlight what a fantastic job the state of Victoria is doing to attract visitors from around Australia and across the world.

“As domestic travel continues to grow, we’re pleased to see more and more passengers heading to Melbourne.

“A month of close-fought footy finals in four states clearly helped drive some of our domestic traffic.

“At the same time, we are seeing an enormous desire amongst international passengers to come to Melbourne, and this has been a consistent trend for 40 quarters now.

“Melbourne’s, and Victoria’s attractiveness to international travellers really owes a lot to the great work of Team Victoria.

“As Victorians we’re immensely proud of our great city and state, and we have a wonderful opportunity to share our home with millions of international visitors this year.

”We have a responsibility to ensure we continue to develop our world-class airport, building the right infrastructure at the right time to support these long-term growth trends.”